building a common peace community

About Us

FRIENDS OF JUSTICE is BREAKING THE SILENCE—– RECLAIMING the core mission of good news to the poor and liberty to the captive TRANSFORMING the world into a COMMON PEACE COMMUNITY.

Friends of Justice formed in response to the infamous Tulia drug sting of 1999 in which 47 people, 39 of them African Americans, were rounded up based on the false testimony of an undercover agent. Friends of Justice emerged as a coalition of defendant’s families and other concerned citizens who believed the defendants were being prosecuted on faulty evidence. Because of the work of Friends of Justice, the Texas Legislature passed the Tulia Corroboration Bill, which has led to the exoneration of dozens of innocent people by raising the evidentiary standards for undercover testimony.

Learning from our experience in Tulia, Friends of Justice launched narrative-based campaigns in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippidesigned to empower local communities and to hold public officials accountable for equal justice. For more, see our page dedicated to ongoing narrative campaigns.

Shifting our FocusFriends of Justice discovered that affected communities, as well as potential support communities, lacked a transformational justice narrative to build a lasting, just community. Friends of Justice identified the faith narrative of God’s compassion for and identification with the poorest and most vulnerable, as the source of transformation, resulting in The Common Peace Community Initiative.

Become a monthly supporter and receive our thank-you gift: a copy of Taking Out the Trash, the story of the Tulia drug sting scandal that gave birth to our movement for justice.

Taking Out the Trash in Tulia, Texas by Dr. Alan Bean“Be prepared, as once you start reading Taking Out the Trash, chances are you won’t put the book down until you’re finished.”
–Scott Greenfield of Simple JusticeAlso available for purchase on Amazon.com